Railway car moving device



March 1968 E. GARBERS RAILWAY CAR MOVING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 17, 1965 3/ I m fi f/ 55' 34, f 5

mm I T wfiw h wk 9 5% E United States Patent 3,372,652 RAELWAY CAR MOVING DEVICE Ernst Garbers, Dammannweg, Hamburgi-lochlramp, Germany Filed Aug. 17, 1965', Ser. No. 489,390 Claims priority, application Germany, Aug. 22, 1964, G 41,373 9 Claims. (Cl. lo l-26) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLQEBURE A pushing-off and braking arrangement for marshalling yards, including four-wheeled trolleys guided between the feet and heads of the rails of tracks and associated guide rails, the trolleys being movable by means of a fixedly connected endless transport means which is lead around the pulley of a driving engine, with raisable arms for engaging parts of a railroad car, e.g. a wheel set or axle bearing casing or the like, the transport means carrying out a to-and-fro motion the length of which corresponds at least to the maximum wheel base of a railroad car, the four wheeled trolleys being carried by the endless transport means in a closed path including a driving portion in which the raisable arm of each trolley engages and drives a railroad car and a return portion in which the raisable arm is disengaged while the trolley is returned to the driving portion of the closed path.

This invention relates to an arrangement for automating the release operation in a railroad marshalling yard with the aid of controllable operating mechanism consisting of a plurality of four-wheeled trolleys arranged to travel between the rail feet and rail heads of a track rail and an associated guide rail. Each trolley carries a raisable transport arm which is adapted to engage the rim of a wheel or other parts of a railroad car. The trolleys or base members carrying them are firmly connected by a power transmission means which is arranged to travel forth adjacent one rail of the track and to travel back adjacent the other rail of the track and is movable to and fro by means of an electric drive.

Similar operating mechanisms are known. They have an endless circulating cable to which the trolleys can be coupled by means of wedge couplings which trolleys are uncoupled after a predetermined distance and coupled to the return run of the cable and return to the beginning of the respective section of track. In continuous service the wedge couplings and the coupling and uncoupling operations V have not proved trouble-free.

It is the object of the present invention to eliminated these deficiencies.

This object is achieved according to the invention by providing an arrangement for automating the release operation in a railroad marshalling yard, which comprises a guide rail adjacent each track rail, said guide rails and said track rails having rail feet and rail heads, controllable operating mechanisms consisting of a plurality of fourwheeled trolleys arranged to travel between the feet and heads of said guide rails and of said track rails, a raisable transport arm pivotally mounted on each trolley and adapted to engage the rim of a Wheel or other parts of a railroad car, and a power transmission means for moving said trolleys and led around guide pulleys permitting toand-fro motion of said power transmission means, both on the run of the power transmission means moving forth and on the run of the power transmission means moving back there being arranged any desired number of trolleys at distances apart in such a manner that during the to-andfro motion of the power transmission means railroad cars can be transported alternately by the trolleys of the one and the other rail of the track by means of raised transport arms.

This operating mechanism can be applied in all cases where railroad cars are to be advanced at a predetermined uniform velocity. It is suitable for use in the classification and like tracks of marshalling yards.

To be able to brake railroad cars running at too great a velocity on to the classification tracks of a marshalling yard, the first or several sections of the tracks may additionally be equipped with trolleys having a transport arm operating as braking arm. Both on the run of the power transmission means moving forth and on the run of the power transmission means moving back there may be arranged any desired number of trolleys in such a manner that during the to-and-fro movement of the power transmission means railroad cars are transported in the direction of release alternately by the trolleys of the one and the other rail of the track by means of the raisable transport arms.

Under simple operating conditions it is also possible to equip two or more tracks lying side by side with only one operating mechanism in such a manner that one run of the power transmission means together with the associated trolleys operates in one track and the other run of the power transmission means together with the associated trolleys operates in the other track. Due to this arrangement which requires only half the total investment costs for each track, also railroad yards with a minor capacity can be mechanized by the operating mechanism with economical success.

The power transmission means between the trolleys may be cables or rods. To simplify and to accelerate exchange of trolleys that have become damaged, the trolleys comprise preferably two structural parts, namely a base member and the trolley proper, the latter being adapted to be placed on the basemember so as to be longitudinally shiftable thereon. As only the base member is firmly connected to the cables or rods moving back and forth, the exchange of a trolley can be effected in a simple manner in the same way as the placing of a new trolley on the base member.

Constructing the trolley with a base member results in a simple possibility of raising and lowering the transport arm in that the same can be raised and lowered by a relative movement between the moved base member and its trolley placed thereon.

A locking mechanism which retains the raisable transport arm in its inoperative position is releasable in that a lever arranged on the trolley abuts against a plunger operable by a magnet of the track.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by Way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of an operating system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing rods with base members;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a rod holder;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section through a trolley, showing the transport arm of the trolley in raised position;

FIG. 5 is a similar view showing the transport arm in lowered position;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the trolley with the transport arm in the position shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the trolley, and

FIG. 8 is a section taken on the line VIIL-VIII of FIG. 5.

With reference now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, guide rails 3 and 4 are mounted adjacent normal track rails 1 and 2. A plurality of trolleys 5 to 20 having wheels 56 (FIG. 4) are arranged to travel between each track rail and its associated. guide rail. The

Patented Mar. 12, 1968 trolleys 5 to 25) travel between rail heads 42 and rail feet 43 of the track rails and the guide rails (l5 3. 2). The trolleys 5, 7, 9 to 19 travel in the'ernbodiment shown in the load direction indicated by arrow 33 and the trolleys 6, 8 to 18 and 2t travel in the no-load direction indicated by arrow 3%. Each trolley is, as shown in FiGS. 4 to 7, placed on a base member 21 and held thereon by means of four bolts 41 fitted into the base member 21 by passing them through slots as in the trolley. The base members 21 are firmly interconnected by a power transmission means which may be a corresponding number of cables 37 or rods 22 and constitutes the opcrr system proper. The spacing between the individual base members 21 may amount, e.g. to metres. Placing a trolley on a base member 21 and removing it therefrom can be effected in a gap in the guide rails near guide pulleys 25 of the operating system. If instead of cables 37 rods 22 are used, the base members of the first trolleys S and 6 between the rails 1t and 3 and the rails 2 and 4 and of the last trolleys 19 and are connected by link chains 23 and 24, respectively. The link chains are led around the guide pulleys 25 which in this particular case are constructed as sprocket wheels. A driving motor 26 is arranged to move the run of the power transmission means adjacent the track rail ll, e.g. 15 metres ahead in the direction of the arrow 38, whereas the run of the power transmission means adjacent the track rail 2 travels 15 metres back in the direction of the arrow 39. After reversing the driving direction in a known manner the run of the power transmission means adjacent the track rail 1 travels back and the run of the power transmission means adjacent the track rail 2 travels ahead. The forward travel takes place in the load direction indicated by the arrow 38, whereas the backward movement takes place in the no-load direction indicated by the arrow 39.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the base member 21 has a pocket 27 which is engaged by a cam member 28 pro vided on a cylindrical portion of a transport arm 29. The transport arm 29 is connected by means of a pivot 53 with a pair of guide rods 51 which are each guided by means of a pin 54 in a slot 55 in the trolley. rhen the base member 21 is moved ahead by the power transmission means, it first raises the transport arm 2') through the cam member 23 in taking along the trolley placed on the base member 21 and then takes the trolley along through the cam member 28. The vertical forces acting during this action on the base member 21 are taken up by the four bolts 41. In its inoperative position the transport arm 29 is locked by means of a projection 32 provided on the transport arm. When depressing the transport arm 29 the projection 32 urges a locking bar 33 subjected to the action of a spring 4'7 back in the direction of arrow (see FIGS. 6 and 8) and this locking bar subsequentially returns to its locking position and prevents the transport arm 29 from rising up again. The locking bar 33 has a stud 34 with the aid of which the locking bar can be moved out of its locking position by a fork 35 at the end of a bell-crank lever 36, thereby permitting the transport arm 29 to be raised.

Behind 1 metre of the beginning of each section of the power transmission means having a length of 15 metres, an electric magnet 30 is arranged on the guide rail 3 and on the guide rail 4, as shown in FIG. 1. When the electric magnet 3G is switched on, a plunger 31 of the magnet lowers down to below the rail head 42.

The remaining 14 metres of each section correspond to the largest possible wheel base of a railroad car. If no axle is standing on this length, the magnet 33 will be switched on and lower its plunger 31 when the direction of movement of the power transmission means is reversed.

The arrangement operates as follows:

When the power transmission means together with the base members 21 travels ahead in the load direction indicated by the arrow 38, the trolleys are taken along through the intermediary of the pocket 27 and the cam member 23, the base member 21 at the same time pressing against the cam member 23 and attempting to raise the transport arm 29. But this is locked by the locking bar 33. if a section of track over a length of 14 metres is not occupied by an axle, the magnet 30 is switched on and the plunger 31 lowered down to below th rail head 32 (FIG. 2). When passing the magnet 30, the bell-crank lever 36 of the trolley strikes against the plunger 31 of the magnet 3t; (FIG. 6). The fork 35 turns about the stud 34 and pushes the locking bar 33 back whereby the projection 32 of the transport arm 29 subjected to pressure is unlocked and the arm rises up. A roller 44 of the arm engages behind the rim of a car wheel or other part of the railroad car and transports the same over a distance of 14 metres. At the end of the section of track the power transmission means together with the base members 21 move back in the no-load direction indicated by the arrow 39. The trolley will be taken along again through the cam member 28. Simultaneously the transport arm 29 is depressed by the base member 21 with the pocket 27 through the intermediary of the cam member 28 and locked.

While the trolleys adjacent the one rail of the track travel ahead in the load direction, the trolleys adjacent the other rail of the track travel back in the no-load direction. After the direction of movement of the power transmission means has been reversed, the load direction and no-load direction change.

FIG. 3 shows a rod holder 48 which is preferably associated with each base member 21 to prevent too heavy a sagging of the rods 22 and thus dragging of the rods along the permanent way. The rod holder has rollers or wheels 49 and a clamp 50 for the rod 22. The rollers or wheels 49 are turnable on studs 52 of the rod holder 48.

The railroad car will be transported over a distance of 14 metres e.g. by the trolley 5, over the next 14 metres by the trolley 8 and over the next following 14 metres by the trolley ll etc.

To permit travel of driving vehicles on the rails of the track, the arrangement proposed by the present invention is switched oflf such that the trolleys in the load direction indicated by the arrow 38 come to a stand-still between the beginning of their movement and the mag net 30. In this position none of the transport arms 29 can be in raised condition in the load direction since the magnets 30 have not yet been passed. The transport arms 29 of the trolleys in the no-load direction, however, are in their inoperative positions. All transport arms 29 are locked in their inoperative positions.

Of course, various changes may be made in the details disclosed in the foregoing specification without departing from the invention and the claims annexed hereto.

1 claim:

1. An arrangement for automating the rail operation in a railroad marshalling yard comprising a set of rails comprising a guide rail adjacent each track rail, said guide rail and said track rails having rail feet and rail heads, controllable operating mechanisms consisting of a plurality of four-wheel trolleys arranged to travel within said set of rails between the feet and heads of said guide rails and on said track rails, a raisable transport arm pivotally mounted on each trolley and adapted to engage the rim of a wheel or another portion of a railroad car, all of said trolleys operating within each set of rails being capable of transmitting a moving force to said railroad car via each of said transport arms in only one direction, and a power transmission means for moving said trolleys in a closed path including a driving portion in which the raisable arm of each trolley is raised thereby engaging and driving a railroad car and a return portion in which the raisable arm is lowered and thereby is disengaged while the trolley is returned to the driving portion of said closed path, the driving portion being in one said set of rails and the return portion being in another said set of rails.

2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein one operating mechanism is provided for two tracks lying side by side, so that one run of the power transmission means together with the associated trolleys is movable in one track and the other run of the power transmission means together with the associated trolleys is movable in the other track.

3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein a base member is connected to each trolley and the trolley is placed on the base member so as to be longitudinally shiftable thereon.

4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein a base member is connected to each trolley and the trolley is placed on the base member so as to be longitudinally shiftable thereon, means being provided for raising and lowering the transport arm by a relative movement between the moved base member and the trolley placed thereon.

5. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein the power transmission means consists of cables firmly connecting adjacent base members.

'6. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein the power transmission means consists of rods and link chains firmly connecting adjacent base members.

7. An arrangement as claimed in claim 6, wherein rod 6 holders having rollers are arranged to travel on the rail feet.

8. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein means are provided for locking the raisable transport arm in its inoperative position, a rotatable bell-crank lever is provided for unlocking the transport arm, and a stationary magnet and an operable plunger thereof are arranged in the track to control the bell-crank lever.

9. An arrangement as claimed in claim 8, wherein for retarding railroad cars travelling too fast, trolleys are provided which have a transport arm serving as braking arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,028,819 4/1962 Brosnan 104-176 3,087,748 4/1963 Livilsberger 105-368 3,141,420 7/1964 Garbers 104-176 3,146,874 9/1964 McGow 104-88 3,169,490 2/1965 Saxonmeyer 104-176 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. D. F. WORTH, Assistant Examiner. 

